Are you a full-time or part-time Club Soda Club member?
Whichever way you lean, you're in the club — and you'll enjoy watching everyone else catch up. There's a "new" trend taking over bars this summer, and you've been doing some version of it for a while.
What is "zebra striping"?
It's for people who want to drink less without quitting completely. Here's the move: a drink, then a non-alcoholic one. Club soda, an NA beer, a mocktail, whatever. One on, one off, all night, back and forth like the stripes on a zebra. That's the whole trick. No quitting, no white-knuckling it in the corner. Space the drinks out, cut the intake roughly in half, wake up like a person.
Sound familiar?
Because that's the Substitution Play we ran last summer. The one a lot of you, some on your way to full-time, have been quietly pulling off at every rooftop, every dinner, every work thing you didn’t want to write off the next morning.
And if you're already full-time — club soda every round, every night? You didn't catch this trend. You lapped it.
The world finally caught up
Now it's got a name and a number. Nearly half the people at bars are running some version of this, and with Gen Z it's closer to 7 in 10.
And it's not just the kids. It cuts across every generation. It's just how they drink now.
Generation | Adoption Rate |
|---|---|
Gen Z (21-28) | 78% |
Millennials (29-43) | 52% |
Gen X (44-59) | 31% |
Boomers (60+) | 14% |
The whole world basically looked up and realized you can just... pace yourself.
Your Turn: so which are you… full-time, or zebra striping the weekends? Hit reply, I read every one.
Stay Sparkling,
— Sorin
P.S.
Already full club soda? Stay there. Nothing here is a nudge to add a drink back in. Zebra striping's just the on-ramp; you're already parked.
All Bubbles. No Troubles.
produced by Scott Nixon
Episode #26 - Al Becka
Al Becka is 414 days in (and counting down to the minute). His turning point came after a night he couldn't remember — and the very real fear of what he could’ve lost.
The hardest part wasn't the drinking itself, it was realizing alcohol had become his entire identity. Without it, he had to figure out who he was, where he fit in, and how to actually feel his feelings again.
Out in the Wild
The Stay Sparkling collection.
Introducing the Club Soda Club referral Program
Know someone who's thinking about it? There's no membership requirement.
Part-time members, full-time members, "I'm just curious" members. All welcome. So whether you've got a friend who's been saying "I should probably cut back" every Sunday morning for the last six months, or a friend who's already all-in on the alcohol-free life and just hasn't found their people yet — send them your link . They subscribe to the free newsletter, you both win. No pressure, no program, no weird pamphlets.
Basically, if they've ever ordered a club soda (or anything else non-alcoholic) and felt like they had to explain themselves... they're already one of us.
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